Brothers
by a7xlover56
Summary: Beast Boy walks in on one of Robin's rare exploits of emotion. Oneshot. No obvious pairings.


Beast Boy walked through the halls of the tower, iPod in hand and headphones in and turned up to a deafening volume that only he could tolerate. To a normal person, this was loud, but to Beast Boy, it was, if possible, louder. His animal ears amplified _everything._

His hips swayed as he walked, the song he was listening to giving him the urge to sing and dance along with it. But, to preserve what little dignity he had left, he saved his singing for the shower only.

It was a beautiful day, it was sunny and warm and wasn't raining for once, and Beast Boy and Robin were alone in the tower. Starfire had drug Raven unwillingly to the mall in search of what she labeled "these Daisy Duke shorts you speak of!" , while Cyborg headed off to the electronic store to browse around.

The changeling made his way into the expansive kitchen, opening the fridge and hurriedly shutting it again after seeing a nauseating amount of meat and finally settled on a soda. No surprise there.

Walking back to his room to watch some tv (he found it was much cozier on his bed watching the tube than on the giant couch that Cyborg had sat on so many times it felt like sitting on cardboard), he finally yanked out his headphones as his door swept open.

**_Bang!_**

_What was that?_

_**Bang! Bang bang!**_ A chain could be heard smacking against something from down the hall.

The sound repeated until finally instinct took over and BB had to investigate. Hopefully curiosity _didn't_ kill the cat this time.

The green-skinned teen walked along the wall towards where the sound emanated, alert and ready to defend himself should the need arise.

_Where was Robin when you needed him?_

The noise faltered and went away; instead he heard a different noise that he couldn't quite place. The previous banging noise had led him down the hallway towards the team's training room.

Realization hit him like a train. How could he be so_ gullible_? Of _course_ it was just Robin. Nobody else could have gotten in the tower without setting off enough alarms for the entire city to hear. The noise he had heard was merely his fists against the punching bag. The only reason he hadn't recognized it was that Robin was far stronger than himself, so he wasn't used to hearing it emit such a loud noise. He should probably try to improve on that.

Something didn't seem right though, making BB feel uneasy. Beast Boy had heard and watched Robin train before, but it had never been so intense. Perhaps he was venting over something?

But what was the other noise? That one was one he definitely couldn't place.

He walked in through the door of the room with caution; he didn't want to spook Robin by yelling or confronting him suddenly. He'd learned his lesson from the last time he had barged into Robin's room in search of urgent advice with Raven. Unbeknownst to him, he had scared Robin by barging in so suddenly and had ended up with two black eyes and several bruised ribs.

However, what he saw when he entered surprised him to no end, and he wasn't sure how to act.

Robin was sobbing, tears running down his face from behind the mask, his face contorted in pain. BB knew better than to believe that it was physical pain, having looked over Robin already to make sure. The masked boy clung to the punching bag for support, for obviously his legs wouldn't hold him. Sobs racked his body, shaking the boy to the core.

Beast Boy softly sat his iPod and soda down, choosing to try to comfort him in some way. BB had dealt with his share of sobbing and knew that sometimes it helped just to know that someone was there for you.

"Hey Rob, you okay?" he asked slowly, hoping he could help in some way. It would be bad enough to see a stranger cry like this, but Robin was like a big brother to him and he refused to just stand there and watch.

Robin whirled around instantly in a battle stance, breathless as his salty tears ran endlessly down his face.

_Crap, I thought he went with Cyborg!_

Beast Boy inched closer, now standing about three feet away, extending a hand to try to comfort him in some way.

"Robin, what's wrong?"

The older boy lowered his arms to stand normally, not knowing how to approach the situation. He would have to tell Beast Boy. He deserved an explanation. None of the Titans had ever seen him cry before.

Putting his arms around himself, he chose to stare at his boots instead of directly confronting him. In some ways he was strong, but this one certainly wasn't one of them. He felt way too vulnerable right now.

Beast Boy stared, mouth open, eyes and expression sullen, ears drooping. He felt unbelievable sympathy for this boy without even knowing the cause. There had to be something terribly bothering for him to destroy a punching bag (which was no longer suitable for use), but to make Robin cry... It had to be awful.

"Eep!"

Beast Boy was knocked backwards, not from an attack, but from Robin's arms attacking him in a tight hug as he started to shake and his body wracked with sobs yet again.

If Beast Boy had been surprised before, it was nothing compared to this moment.

_Oh my god... Robin's hugging me! He's actually freaking hugging me!_

They stood that way for a few minutes, Robin's salty tears soaking through the spandex of BB's uniform. "Dude, are you okay?" Beast Boy asked softly, rubbing comforting circles into his friend's back. The situation should have been awkward, but it wasn't.

Robin suppressed what remained of his pride and tried to steady his voice enough to speak. He spoke softly, managing to keep his tears at bay for the moment.

"Today is the anniversary of my parents' death." His voice cracked in the middle of the sentence.

Sudden and intense understanding and sympathy welled up inside of Beast Boy who finally understood.

"They were performing a circus act when someone tampered with the wires. I-I watched them die, Beast Boy."

The smaller boy tightened his arms around Robin to show that he was listening, wordlessly urging him to continue through the tears that had begun to fall again.

"It's been eight years. I miss them so much..."

The two stood in silence for a few precious moments, Robin's breathing slowing as Beast Boy held him.

"I lost my parents, too."

Robin pulled slightly back to look at Beast Boy in astonishment and sudden respect for the boy.

"Boating accident. Took both of them."

Understanding coursed through both of them. They couldn't be more different, yet, they were the same.

Funny how that worked.

The two friends held each other in sorrow. But they weren't just friends anymore.

They were, in a strange way, _brothers._


End file.
